The Polymer Society of Korea

Abstract

Since the AI biochip packs more power into a tiny patch of silicon, engineering designers must add a thermal interface material (TIM) to pull heat away fast enough to keep nearby tissue safely. Yet, their practical potential as TIM for implantable biochips is restricted by three intrinsic drawbacks: limited biocompatibility, high stiffness, and only modest through-plane thermal conductivity. Here, we present an epoxy growth mechanism on the surface of conductive fillers and correspondingly propose a strategy for developing a biocompatible, tissue-like soft, and highly thermally conductive TIM. We employ submicron-scale Ga-based liquid metal particles(LMPs) as soft, conductive fillers. The LMPs surface rapidly oxidize when exposed to trace levels of oxygen (even below 2 ppm), forming a stable oxide shell. We encapsulated the LMs with polydopamine(PDA), which is a representative biocomponent, via solution polymerization.